Relentless

54

"Get out of here." I said as Stephanie walked in, "now you know how it feels." She said as I shook my head, "get out." I repeated and tried to reach for the call button but the restraints prevented me from reaching it. She turned and locked the door before coming over to me.

"Yeah, sad how they chain you to the bed like you're crazy." She said and sat down. "Please leave." I begged and pulled at the restraints,

"I just wanted you to know how it felt. For everyone to think you were crazy. For you to have to be tested and picked apart like I have had to be for MONTHS." She said and looked up at me,

"Feels pretty bad, huh? Very demoralizing. The fact that I could just..." she said then wrapped her hand around my neck, "do this..and you couldn't stop me because crazy girl can't lift her arms up or she might hurt herself." She said and squeezed my neck for a second before letting go.

"I knew you'd eventually snap." She said and sat back down, "I'm glad I didn't actually have to kill your dad for it though, because my mom would have been sad about that. This worked out much nicer." She said as I frowned,

"Please just leave me alone." I whispered as someone jiggled the doorknob, "Cor?" I heard Colby call out, "she's fine! We are doing some tests!" Stephanie called out with a fake voice as she covered my mouth with her hand.

"I just want to talk." She said after a minute. "Please just go away." I begged as tears started to form. "Don't cry. You look pathetic when you cry." She said and rolled her eyes. "If I'm such a trigger for you then why won't you LEAVE ME ALONE!" I screamed as she jumped up and grabbed my neck again, choking me into silence, "sh! God! You're so loud!" She hissed as I struggled against the restraints again,

"I'll let go if you stay quiet." She said as I nodded quickly. She pulled her hand off as I tried to catch my breath as quietly as possible.

"So anyways. I guess I'm sorry for everything." She said as she sat back down, "I just needed a father figure and your dad clearly was up for the task." She said and picked her nails as I watched her cautiously.

"You know I'm willing to share him right? You don't have to push me away." I said quietly, feeling my heart break again, remembering that he chose her over me.

"You don't deserve him though, not after what everything you've done." She said and sighed, leaning back in the chair as the doorknob jiggled again, "Cora, why is the door locked?" The nurse that was helping me asked as Stephanie smirked, "don't answer." She warned as she picked her nails.

"He tells my mom and I all the time about how he wishes you would leave him alone." She said and stood up to tower over me. "Stop." I whispered and shook my head, "yeah....he said he was glad you attempted." She said as my heart ached, "Get out." I said as the tears started forming again.

"He said you're a failure. Hell, you couldn't even succeed at dying." She said and grabbed my glass of water as I shook my head, "stop! Please stop!" I screamed and pulled against the restraints as she giggled, taking a sip of my water, "he also said he wished you were dead. So it would be doing him a favor if you tried again." She said coyly as I sobbed, "GET OUT! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!!" I screamed and struggled against the restraints, wiggling around trying to get up.

"Oh my god! Cora!" Stephanie yelled fakely as the nurse opened the door, then rushed in, "what's going on?" She asked as Stephanie started fake crying, "she just flipped so fast! She started talking about doing it again." She said and put her hands up to her mouth as I screamed and cried.

"GET OUT!" I begged as Colby ran in. He looked at me with concern then let his eyes travel over to Stephanie, "get her out of here." He growled to one of the nurses as he took my hand, trying to soothe me as I screamed. "Calm down Cora, you're okay." The nurse said and smoothed my hair down as I cried.

"GET OUT!" I screamed again as the nurse pulled out a syringe and injected me with something as I writhed against the bed. I watched as someone dragged her out of the room but everything was blurry as tears poured down my cheeks.

"It's okay sweetheart, you're okay. She's gone." Colby said as he brushed my hair back. My limbs started to feel like jello as my vision blurred more.

They had drugged me again.

"N-no! I'm f-f-f." I mumbled as I started to fully lose consciousness. "It's okay baby, relax. I'll be here when you wake up. It's okay." Colby cooed as I finally melted into the darkness.

"Come here squirt." Dad said as I walked out of the DMV after getting my driver's license. "I did it dad! I really did it!" I yelled and jumped into his arms as he spun me around, "I'm so proud of you! I knew you could do it!" He exclaimed and set me down before ruffling my hair, "how about some celebratory icecream?" He asked and tossed me the keys to his truck.

The memory faded and blurred to another one.

"I can't believe you're graduating today. Where did the time go?" Dad asked as I zipped up my graduation gown. "I don't know dad, but I can't believe I made it." I said with a wide grin, "I knew you could do it. You're the smartest girl I know." He said and nudged my shoulder with a laugh, "yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, dad" I said as he kissed my head, "I'm so proud of you." He said and shook my shoulders as I smiled at him.

The memory faded again.

"He stood me up, daddy." I cried as I sat on the ground on the porch, wearing my prom dress. "Oh squirt, he's not worth it. He was never worth it." He said and sat with me on the ground, pulling me into him. "What did I do to deserve everyone leaving me?" I asked as he shook his head, "don't do that, squirt. You are worth so much. One day you're going to find someone that loves you so much that it's going to feel like the world is stopping" he said and rubbed my arm. "He's going to make you feel like you are the most important thing in the world and you won't even think about this moment." He said as I sniffled and looked at him, "what if I never find the one?" I asked as he breathed a laugh, "then you'll always have me." He said and hugged me tighter.

"Cora honey, I don't know if you can hear me...but I just want to say I'm sorry." Dad's voice came through the haze.

Why was he here? He needed to be resting.

"I wasn't thinking when I let Michelle convince me to not let you come by...I wasn't thinking about how it would effect you." He said as his voice thickened. "I should have been smarter...I shouldn't have let this happen." He said as he cried.

"I love you so much, squirt...I love you so so much. You mean more to me than anything in the world..." he said and sniffled again, "Please wake up sweetie, it's okay if you don't want to forgive me..it's okay if you want to hate me. I understand." He said as another voice came through.

"She doesn't hate you, dad." Colby said as my dad sniffled again. "I wouldn't blame her though, I seriously was a shitty father." He said as I begged my eyes to open. I needed to tell him that he was being hard on himself.

I didn't hate him.

I could never hate him.